I did not oppose all wars I said I was
a strong supporter of the war in Afghanistan but I said I could not support
a dumb war a rash war in Iraq I worried about a U.S.
Occupation of undetermined length at undetermined costs with undetermined
consequences in the heart of the Muslim world I pleaded that we finish the fight
with bin Laden and al Qaeda the political winds were blowing in
a different direction the president was determined to go to war and there was just
one obstacle the U.S.
Congress nine days after I spoke that obstacle was removed Congress rubber stamped
the rush to war giving the president the broad and open ended authority he uses to
this day with that vote Congress became co-author of
a catastrophic war and we went off to fight on the wrong battlefield with no
appreciation of how many enemies we would create and no plan for how to get out
because of
a war in Iraq that should have never been authorized and should have never been
waged we are now less safe than we were before nine eleven according to the
National Intelligence Estimate the threat to our homeland from al Qaeda is quote
persistent and evolving Iraq as
a training ground for terror torn apart by civil war in Afghanistan is more violent
than it has been since two thousand and one al-Qaeda has
a sanctuary in Pakistan Israel is besieged by emboldened enemies talking openly of
its destruction Iran is now presenting the broader strategic challenge to the
United States in the Middle East in
a generation groups affiliated with or inspired by al Qaeda operate worldwide
six years after nine eleven we are again in the midst of
a summer of threat with bin Laden and many more terrorist Determined to Strike in
the United States. What's more in the dark halls of Abu Ghraib and the detention
cells of one tonn
a mole we have compromised our most precious values what could have been a call to
a generation has become an excuse for unchecked presidential power
a tragedy that united us was turned into
a political wedge issue used to divide us it is time to turn the page and it is
time to write
a new chapter in our response to nine eleven. And be clear just because the
president misrepresents our enemy does not mean that we do not have enemies the
terrorists are at war with us the threat is from
a violent is from violent extremists who are
a small minority of the world's one point three billion Muslims but the threat is
real they distort Islam they kill man woman and child Christian and Hindu Jew and
Muslim they seek to create
a repressive caliphate and to defeat this enemy we must understand who are we are
fighting against and what are we fighting for the president would have us believe
that every bomb in Baghdad is part of war against us not an Iraqi civil war
elevates al Qaeda in Iraq which didn't exist before our invasion and overlooks the
people who hit us on nine eleven who are training new recruits in Pakistan right
now he wants together groups with very different goals al Qaeda and Iran Shia
militias and Sunni insurgents he confuses our mission and worse he is fighting the
war that the terrorists want us to fight. Bin Laden and his allies know they cannot
defeat us on the field of battle or in
a genuine battle of ideas but they can provoke the reaction we've seen in Iraq
a misguided invasion of
a Muslim country that sparks new insurgencies ties down our military busts our
budgets increases the pool of terrorist recruits alienates America gives democracy
a bad name and prompts the American people to question our engagement in the world
by refusing to end the war in Iraq President Bush is giving the terrorists what
they really want and what the Congress voted to give them in two thousand and two
a U.S.
Occupation of undetermined length at undetermined cost with undetermined consequences
it is time to turn the page when I'm president we will wage the war that has to be
won with
a comprehensive strategy with five elements getting out of Iraq and on the right
battlefield in Afghanistan and Pakistan developing the capabilities and
partnerships we need to take out the terrorists and the world's most deadly weapons
engaging the world to dry up support for terror and extremism restoring our values
and securing
a more resilient homeland let me talk about each of these in turn the first step
must be to get off the wrong battlefield in Iraq and take the fight to the
terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan I introduced
a plan in January that would have already started bringing our troops out of Iraq
with the goal of removing all combat brigades by March thirty first two thousand
and eight if the president continues to veto this plan that ending this war will be
my first priority when I take office there is no military solution in Iraq only
Iraq's leaders can settle the grievances at the heart of Iraqi civil war we must
apply pressure on them to act and our best leverage is reducing our troop presence
and we must also do the hard sustained diplomatic work in the region on behalf of
peace and stability. In ending the war we must act with more wisdom than we started
and that's why my plan would maintain sufficient forces in the region to target all
al-Qaeda within Iraq but we must recognize that Al Qaeda is not the primary source
of violence in Iraq and has little support not from Shia and Kurds who are al Qaeda
targets or Sunni tribes hostile to foreigners on the contrary as appeal within Iraq
is enhanced by our troop presence ending the war will help isolate al Qaeda and
give Iraqis the incentive and opportunity to take them out will also allow us to
direct badly needed resources to Afghanistan our troops have fought valiantly there
but Iraq has deprived them of the support that they need and deserve as
a result parts of Afghanistan are falling into the hands of the Taliban and
a mix of terrorism drugs and corruption threatens to overwhelm the country as
president I will deploy at least two additional brigades to Afghanistan to
reinforce our counterterrorism operations and support NATO as efforts against the
Taliban as we step up our commitment our European friends must do the same and
without the burdensome restrictions that have hampered NATO Zephyrs we must also
put more of an Afghan face on security by improving the training and equipping of
Afghan army and police and including Afghan soldiers and U.S.
And NATO operations we must not however repeat the mistakes of Iraq. The solution
in Afghanistan is not just military it is political and economic That's why as
president I will increase our nonmilitary aid by one billion dollars to Afghanistan
and these resources should fund projects at the local level to impact ordinary
Afghans including the development of alternative livelihoods for poppy farmers and
we must seek better performance from the Afghan government and support that
performance through tough anti-corruption safeguards on aid and increased
international support to develop the rule of law across the country above all I
will send
a clear message We will not repeat the mistakes of the past when we turned our back
on Afghanistan following the Soviet withdrawal as nine eleven showed us the
security of Afghanistan and America is shared and today that security is most
threatened by the al Qaeda and Taliban sanctuaries in the tribal regions of
northwest Pakistan al-Qaeda terrorists train travel and maintain global
communications in the safe haven the Taliban pursues
a hit and run strategy striking in Afghanistan than skulking across the border to
safety this is the wild frontier of our globalized world there windswept deserts
and cave dotted mountains there are tribes that see borders as nothing more than
lines on
a map and governments as forces that come and go their blood ties deeper than
alliances of convenience and pockets of extremism that follow religion to violence
it is
a tough place but that is no excuse there must be no safe havens for terrorists who
threaten America we cannot fail to act just because action is hard as president I
would make hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S.
Military aid to Pakistan conditional and I would make our conditions clear Pakistan
must make substantial progress in closing down the training camps
a victim foreign fighters and preventing the Taliban from using Pakistan as
a staging area for attacks in Afghanistan.